An amateur engineer has spent eight years working on a flying car, and this month, he finally flew it.
Kyxz Mendiola conducted the first successful test flight of an ultralight aircraft that he calls the Koncepto Millenya. In the footage of the flight, Mendiola flies about 25 feet and, more importantly, safely lands.
The single-seater prototype is essentially a larger-scale octocopter drone. It's battery-powered, and it takes 2.5 hours to charge, but it only has the power to fly for, at most, 15 minutes.
In early versions of the craft, Mendiola was working on a hoverboard version that was remote-controlled. The new prototype is a little bit safer than balancing above eight propellers.
Next, Mendiola wants to move to manufacturing and mass-produce a two-seater version of the aircraft. However, he may need to make a few improvements along the way as the max payload is only about 175 pounds and the top speed is about 35 mph.
What's most impressive is that Mendiola is self-taught, teaching himself both engineering and aircraft design.
Based in the Philippines, the amateur engineer predicts that flying cars like the Koncepto Millenya will be the main form of transportation in five years. For that to happen, the cars might need a little more range than about nine miles.
